Hi everyone, I’m finally home again after our 10 days trip to Singapore. I got back a couple of days ago, but I’ve been too burnt out to do much. The time difference to Brisbane is only two hours, so I’m more exhausted from the trip in general rather than jet lag. I was a bit disappointed to come back home to real life. I was enjoying having my bed made, my meals prepared and exploring new exciting places every day. However, I missed my bed, my colouring pencils, soy cappuccinos and my family (in no particular order).

So before I share some of my travel adventures and stories, I thought I would show you some of the stuff I came back with. I didn’t do that much shopping really. I planned on coming back with a lot more. Marco, on the other hand, thinks I came back with more than enough. He only came back with a couple of pairs of shoes. I guess for the amount of time I allocated to shopping I thought I would have found more things I really wanted, but I guess I’m more sensible these days. So I’m happy with all my buys.

 

Clothes and Accessories

So I only come back with 5 items of clothing. I did try on a lot more but I wanted to make sure everything fit well so I know that I would actually wear it when I came back. The majority of these items came from stores in Marina Square and Vivo City. These were probably my favourite shopping centres that I came across. I’m not one for high-end designers. I just wanted some classic items, in a nice fit that I couldn’t find at home.

1. Long sleeve t-shirt from Bershka
2. Blue floral dress from The Editors Market
3. White denim skirt (side zip) from Yishion Casual
4. Pink lace top and Black embroidered t-shirt from Lalu
5. Handbags from little store in Marina Square
6. Denim shorts from child’s store in China Town Point
7. Shoes from Mondo

 

I didn’t buy much in the way of accessories. I bought this jewellery set from the National Orchard Garden gift shop on my last day. I was originally going to just buy the earing, but once the shop assistant got me to try on the necklace and I couldn’t help myself. It has Swarovski crystals, hand painted and is gold plated in 24-carat gold. It was a little expensive but I’m happy I bought it as a memento of Singapore.

The rest were from a gift store in Kampong Glam. I think it was $5 for three items. I loved the bracelet because its small enough to fit my skinny wrists. As gifts, I bought some gorgeous Korean jewellery brand, Skeda, from Universal Studios.

1. Orchard Jewellery set from National Orchard Garden Store
2. Bracelet and Embroidered tissue boxes from giftshop at Kampong Glam

 

Food-related items

I originally bought the instant drinks as gifts. However, after trying some drinks from hawker stores I wanted to bring them back for myself. My favourite drink was Homemade barley drink served cold. I bought the Japanese products from Daiso, which had a much better selection than our Daiso back home. So far I have only tried the Squid Crackers and Chrysanthemum Tea and they taste delicious. The ingredients in all of these items were quite good, as they didn’t have any preservatives or MSG. We had to bring some delicious Kaya spread back with us. This was our favourite Singaporean breakfast spread. Octavia was happy to have this every morning and asked for it throughout the day. I also bought a good quality stainless steel bottle, which I found on sale and is the perfect size for me.

1. Instant Honey Chrysanthemum Tea and Instant Barley from Mustafa Centre
2. Miso Soup, Squid Crackers and Bonito from Daiso
3. Kaya Coconut Curd from Dong Po Colonial Cafe
4. Oasis Waterbottle from store in Marina Square

 

Books

I was hoping to find more colouring books while I was away. Not many bookstores sold them and the ones they were pretty expensive Japanese colouring books. I really wanted a Singaporean colouring book as a memento of my trip.

I found the Dear Baby colouring book in a little art store. The pictures of babies with their mammas as so adorable and a lovely gift to leave your little one. I found this for only $12 from a little art store at China Square Mall. I’m hoping it’s not a fake version since they were selling some fake Johanna Basford colouring books that I have seen on Wish. The paper is a medium quality and it looks legit. I have never seen this book in person to compare though and online previews look the same. 

I did find a few bookstores selling the Colouring the Lion City by William Sim. It includes many different scenes around Singapore, depicting nature, modern buildings and interesting flying machines. Each picture also includes a little robot and his cat, which I imagine are visiting different destinations. The book is thick, has good quality paper and pages are single sided.

I also bought the Singapore Favourites recipe book so I could learn how to cook some classic Singaporean dishes. This is part of an economical series of cookbooks.

The only book I regret not getting was Blks & Nos. by Koh Hong Teng. I saw it in a novelty store at Clarke Quay. However, it was very expensive and I thought I may find it again, but I didn’t.

1. Dear Baby: Colouring Book for A Happy Pregnancy (Chinese Edition) by Huang Zhen from “K”rafer’ Paradise (China Square Mall)
2. Colouring The Lion City by William Sim from Kinokuniya Book Store
3. Singapore Favourites by Wendy Hutton Kinokuniya Book Store

 

So stay tuned for upcoming posts about my travels and some finished coloured pictures from William Sim’s Colouring The Lion City. I look forward to visiting some of your blogs soon so see what you’ve all been up to as well.